Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Back in 1995, instead of the $18 Billion they paid in 2007! That's direct from Activision CEO Bobby Kotick,recounting an anecdote from his past:

Kotick spoke of a dinner in 1995 with Davidson & Associates in which they mention they had purchased Blizzard for $7 million. What Kotick explained afterwards was his bewilderment at the high price tag for the burgeoning developer:

“That year Activision probably had 60 million in revenues. They said they paid seven million dollars for Blizzard. I’m like 'Are you out of your minds? They’re like a contract developer! They have Warcraft but what else do they have? You paid SEVEN million! That’s insane!

"I was talking to [Blizzard founder] Mike Morhaime the other day and I said, 'You know, I could have bought you for seven million and instead it was seven billion.' [Laughs] He said, 'Yeah, could you imagine if I had just held out for the seven billion instead of the seven million?'”

In other Blizzard news, the studio talks about their ability to delay product, knowing that their creativity won't be curtailed by executives eager to push their wares to market to meet financial deadlines.